From: vagans@eanna.net
On Fri, 7 Nov 2003, ghost wrote:
>
>
> In article ,
> Sourcerer wrote:
>
> > On Thu, 6 Nov 2003, ghost wrote:
> >
> > >
> > >
> > > In article ,
> > > Sourcerer wrote:
> > >
> >
> >
> > We each have inherited our own mix of cultural DNA from various forms
> > the counterculture movement has taken. The "motion" of the movement is
> > antagonistic to the culture it is a counter to. Most of the folks
> > looking for a movement in cyberpunk mean something like the Yippies,
> > whether they know it or not: outlaw techno-rebels working to bring
> > freedom and anarchism to this sickened society, hopefully while having
> > fun. This has never worked.
>
> and I'm glad, anarchism would probably put me out of a job, since I'm
> the Security business.
>
>
> > I have a theory that countercultural movements develop and wane along
> > with the condition of the economy. The generational changes of
> > alt.cyberpunk align with changes in the broader economy. The 1st
> > generation changed to the 2nd after the recession of the early 90's, the
> > 2nd to the 3rd after the dotcom bubble burst in 99-00.
> >
> > The hippie and yippie movements emerged when the post-war boom ended in
> > the late 60s, the punks during the 70s deep recession that then
> > developed. 1966-1976 was the high point of the counterculture movement.
> > It was also the duration of the unravelling of the postwar economy.
> >
> > The Cyberpunk Movement came right after the recession of the early 80s.
> > If countercultural movements catch a cultural wind, it appears to blow
> > only when the economy is failing. Cyberpunk came to be during a rocky
> > economic period that appeared to be bad, but was in fact good. After
> > 1993 it was explosively good. It happened to be good in ways that
> > aligned with the hi tech and even low life interests of cyberpunk. It is
> > hard to be antagonistic and counter towards a culture that seems to be
> > in process of making your dreams come true 8-)
>
> You know, I never really looked at it like that, but it makes some kind
> of sense.
What happened to the cyberpunk culture? We all got jobs is what
happened. Software development and design, Security, net and sys
administration, house geek for the corps -- even the least experienced
could hustle work at the help desk. And we had all of these toys and
tools just rolling of the slaver's assembly lines in E. Asia and China,
getting cheaper, better, faster.
I think we are at another 'tippping point' for the economy, one that
will take us into 'the cybergothic dystopic future' and perhaps a
cyberpunk movement will emerge in the wreckage, say around 2008 -- or
whenever we begin to recover from the shock resulting from the collapse
of global finance.
> I can see it now, "Quick Mr. Mega-Corp, give me awesome tech really
> cheap - keep doing research to make it faster & cheaper while I tell
> everyone how evil you are!!" Heh ... I'm just curious as to where people
> think most advancements in technology will come from once they topple
> the MegaCorps in control of everything .. Seems to me to rail against
> the corporations in this day and age you'd have to be a neoluddite. It'd
> be the only logical move.
>
A bit more than 10 years ago there was a thread here (it was one of the
first I posted to) about technology and jobs. The subject was what to do
about all the people who can only do 'low level' jobs, since technology
was and would continue to relentlessly eliminate them. The subject was,
could you educate and train such 'low level' workers to do 'high level'
work, who are likely to be uneducatable and untrainable. What to do
about the coming masses of the unemployed?
The thread exposed the class and political antagonisms in the group, but
what is on-point here was the assumption that highly skilled jobs in
technology would expand forever. It never occured to them that their
jobs would 'run away' to India, or that newer technologies would
obsolete them, mocking their smug satisfaction in their once elite
skillsets, their bright economic futures. I wonder how many of them got
sacked the past 3 years?
> I can see it now, "Quick Mr. Mega-Corp, give me awesome tech really
> cheap - keep doing research to make it faster & cheaper while I tell
> everyone how evil you are!!" Heh ... I'm just curious as to where
> people think most advancements in technology will come from once they
> topple the MegaCorps in control of everything .. Seems to me to rail
> against the corporations in this day and age you'd have to be a
> neoluddite. It'd be the only logical move.
>
My response in such threads was like that. Destroy the Beast and you and
your buddies in your secret cp movement would have to communicate by
paper cup and string. Btw, has anyone ever done that, or anyone ever
network an array of paper cups and string?
The political problem has been that the "system" is in process of
destroying itself, it cannot be reformed. Its condition is terminal.
The idea of "dystopia" is a natural for disaffected youth, being clearly
countercultural. My objection to it goes to the unnecessary assignment
of disaffected youth's sentiments onto cyberpunk and cp fiction, rather
than considering the far more nuanced and subtle understanding of it as
expressed by cp fiction and its authors.
Basically, they desire to rant a bit about it all and then settle down
or to post to this group or not. We should take it more seriously these
days, if I am right about the economy. Their personal futures do not
shine so brightly as ours did in 93 -- not so great for those of us
approaching their dotage, either. I do not want to be an old man picking
shit with the pidgeons in the alley for my daily bread.
--
(__) Sourcerer
/(<>)\ O|O|O|O||O||O The world hadn't ever had so many
\../ |OO|||O|||O|O moving parts or so few labels.
|| OO|||OO||O||O -- mlo
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
|
